Wrath of the Swarm--a preview
by SolarisAce
Summary: The Queen of Blades has fallen, and in her place lies Sarah Kerrigan. The Queen of Blades was a being whose cruelty was unmatched, having taken more lives than any other in history. Her lover, Jim Raynor, moved heaven and earth to free her from the Zerg infestation. Another factor has presented itself: another Kerrigan. AU aspects-a preview of a potential story.


**A/N: This is a short preview of something I've had on my mind. I have no plans on making this a full story yet. To those of you following my Elder Scrolls FanFic "Of Legends", I have no plans of cancelling that and in fact want to finish it before making a full story out of this one. Enjoy the recollections of the character, and leave any advice in a PM or a review.**

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Who am I? Do you really want to know the answer? I'm liable to get a bullet in my head if I told you my name. I'll tell you, but first let's take my life from the top…

I was born on TarKossia, and was a natural psychic. I was quite powerful, too—so powerful that I was taken away from my parents soon after I was born. Files indicate that my parents didn't remember having me, and had another child four years after.

Life as a Confederate Ghost was hell—the training was just the start of it all. My instructor was someone named "Captain Rumm" and was the biggest piece of work I've had to deal with. I was four when he was tasked with training me—man seemed to get a kick out of beating me and forcing me to kill. It seemed the only way he eased down was when I killed and liked it—I made for a convincing sadist at such a young age.

Eight years and a promotion to Major later, Ruum transferred to train some other poor person. I got stuck with another trainer named "Wolcott". He was stern and he had a nasty temper, but wasn't anywhere near as bad as Rumm—turns out that if you got Wolcott drunk enough, he was surprisingly pleasant.

At sixteen, I got placed in some augmentation project (some precursor to Project Shadowblade) with a catastrophically high failure and mortality rate. I was one of a fortunate few to get off with little-to-no complication. Internal cybernetic augmentations, chemical therapy, gene modification…if there was anything the Confederate project _didn't_ do to me, I can't think of it.

The next fourteen years went on without a hitch for me. I was a stone-cold professional—when let loose against any political rivals of the Old Families, I _always_ got the job done. I was also a master hacker—no security could stand up to me. Before the Sons of Korhal rose up, I was let loose on small insurrectionist groups—not that I was fond of doing so. These groups were said to have ceased existing overnight due to my skill—I was _the_ top Ghost in the Confederacy.

When 2500 C.E. rolled around, rebellion broke out against the Confederacy. I had little involvement in either side. Then the Dominion replaced the Confederacy, and I ended up taking an active frontline role during the Brood War. I was the sole survivor of the Fringe World that I was stationed at: Luthien—this, combined with my years of service in the Confederacy, earned me the title "Lion of the Fringe".

Two years later, I was doing recon work on another Fringe World called Kentares when the Zerg Swarm attacked, and Emperor Mengsk ordered a withdrawal of all combat troops…save for me. The civvies were left alone to fend for themselves. It was there I met the dreaded Queen of Blades face-to-face, and I fought and survived against her terrible power. I survived and escaped the planet by the skin of my teeth, in large part thanks to prototype technology: the Psi Amplifier.

After the hell on Kentares my faith in the Dominion (as if I had any to start with) was shaken up, and I began to dig deeper into its affairs—I hacked into files that only Mengsk himself would have access to. Things came to a head when I learned the truth about the Queen of Blades: she was once human—not just any human, but one named Sarah Kerrigan. And how did this happen? Our "dear" Emperor Mengsk left her to die at the Swarm's hands…with Psi Emitters placed on Tarsonis, no less…

You might be asking "what does any of this have to do with you?" Well, do you want to know my name now?

It's Eric Kerrigan—my father's name was Patrick, and that made Sarah Kerrigan my younger sister. Are you still looking to put a bullet in my head?

In any case, I ended up leaving the Dominion and worked as an independent mercenary who took anti-Dominion jobs. Then I ended up meeting _the_ Jim Raynor, and somehow ended up involved in a gambit to disinfest the Queen of Blades. At the end of it all, he got Sarah back and carried her off Char.

Raynor would like that the monster that murdered billions four years ago wasn't Sarah Kerrigan, but rather a corruption of the person caused by her infestation. After what I went through on Kentares and recently on Char, I have my doubts—I can't shake the feeling that this was all a wasted effort…


End file.
